Yet the capture of Di María, who was the man of the match when Real won a 10th Champions League in May, represents something a coup for United considering the club are not in Europe’s premier club competition and need to strengthen their squad after the team have let five points slip from the first two matches.

(US,historical, of Native Americans) A blow against an enemy delivered in a way that shows bravery.

Thus, for a horseman to ride over and knock down an enemy, who was on foot, was regarded among the Blackfeet as a coup, for the horseman might be shot at close quarters, or might receive a lance thrust.

Military coups and the military regimes which follow from them are so much a feature of third world politics that their presence or absence in any given region might almost be taken as a rough and ready touchstone of third worldliness.

It was the military's discontent with what was happening in the country and in the military that led to the first military coup in January 1966. The First Republic was brought to an ignoble end and replaced with a military government.

The coup was well-planned. Fuel was artificially held back so as to create shortages and dissatisfaction with Brotherhood rule. The old state-controlled unions mounted public sector strikes that further sabotaged the economy and annoyed people. Police-controlled thugs who had been used against the Tahrir Square demonstrations in 2011 came back into action.